From the desk (and BlackBerry) of Keith Parnell

photo credit: flickr.com/photos/madebygirl

I agree with Chris. Don’t take the holidays off from creating content for your blog.

Many companies do scale back on a lot of tasks during the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas-to-New Year holiday period. This is our opportunity to shine.

I equate this time period to the efforts we have preached about during this tough economic downturn in our country. While advertising dollars are scarce, be creative, come up with cool inbound marketing tactics to generate leads. Be smart and build your online marketing presence while your competitors are doing nothing.

What do you think? Have you increased your internet marketing activities? Have you increased your blogging?

RSS and Facebook readers: click here to view and enter comments.

On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to Boys of Summer by Don Henley.

During these days of tight economic times a lot of us that are decision-makers for our respective companies are thinking hard about the details of our marketing initiatives. How should we market? Should we market? How should we spend? And at what rate should we spend?

JASE published an article on our company blog a few months ago that references thoughts from the Harvard Business Review. It’s worth the read.

Harvard Business Review - How to Market during a Recession

“Listen less to the news. Spend money and support America and we will all be okay,” says a sign at San Antonio Sams.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

2009 has been a solid year so far for our organization. Business is on a steady increase and outperforming our sales goals.

Pondering the causes of this growth during a tough economy, I thought back to my professional goals I set for myself on January 1, 2009. Here they are.

1. I will identify those in my network of influence (on me) that are negative and impress upon me a non-productive demeanor. I will totally eliminate them from my circle.
2. I will attempt to increase the size and more importantly the quality of my network of business partners. I will work my hardest to learn from their experience and offer my participation where appropriate.
3. I will schedule my days and weeks to be more fluid, yet more productive.
4. I will attempt to face-to-face network more than I did in 2008.
5. I will be more cognizant of my personal brand and achieve to sharpen its edges.

Hard Work Means Success

I can honestly say that I am well on the way towards accomplishing each resolution. And even better than that, I can attribute much of JASE’s success this year to the processes I’m living to achieve these goals. So for once in my life, I can say that I’m living up to my New Year’s Resolutions and they’ve not been a total waste of my time to establish them.

- Good thing I didn’t throw in the ‘lose 30 pounds this year’ resolution! -

What about you?

How are those resolutions going?

2009 Advertising Apple BlackBerry blog Brand CEO Christ Christmas CIO Coffee with the CEO commercial economy email Facebook God Google IT JASE JASE Group JASE Marketing JASEzone Javelin Jesus Keith Parnell Linux Lord Marketing Microsoft Norfolk Pearl RSS small business social community Social Media social network T-mobile Technology tv Twitter VA Video Windows Wireless YouTube

Grab your 2nd cup of coffee and let’s chat. I want to introduce you to what economists say it takes to make you an entrepreneur. Let’s see if they say you have the beans or not (coffee pun intended ).

Reference post: The Entrepreneurs Forum of Hampton Roads - Born, Not Made by Dr. James V. Koch

Coffee time! This morning I’ll talk about the importance of working to build your brand during tough economic times.

We are in discussions with a client on developing budget line items against a marketing plan. As with a lot of small businesses, a marketing budget has not yet been established. Most business owners understand the importance of smart money allocation and the results gained from the plan execution but they’ve just not gotten around to it yet.

Well, now is the time. The current state of our economy offers the perfect opportunity. Establish your company’s brand now. Expose your strategic brand to consumers now so that when the turn-around does hit us, you’re ready. You’re already on the tips of their tongues.

In a recent blog article, Seth Godin said, “Creativity demands exposure to market needs, and insulation from market fears. Give it some time to work, some support, some breathing room. That’s when creativity has a chance to change the game.”

Let’s work together now to change the game. With our rules, and with your new brand exposure, we can grow your business like you’ve never seen.

Mark Cuban published on his blog yesterday an idea on how he thinks we can help the economy.

Mark’s blog entry is only a few sentences so I’ve copied the complete entry for you. You can see his original blog post here.

Consumer savings are way up.  Doesn’t more savings mean more money in banks to lend ? Isn’t that a good thing ?

Here is an idea for you. Create rewards for putting those savings in lending institutions, and reward the institutions for lending it out. 

Make the interest earned on savings accounts and CDs tax free for individuals and corporations if the funds are deposited with lending institutions  that lend out 100pct of those funds.  Its a simple concept. If we are going to increase our savings, lets make sure that money is recycled into the economy and frees up credit.

Here is how I see it.  As of June of ‘08, there were 7 TRILLION dollars in deposits held by lending institutions.  If that number can grow by any percent, and be recycled into the economy through incentives, it completely changes the dynamics of an economic incentive plan.  Plus, Im certain that banks would rather take in funds through deposits than by being required to pay 10pct for government bailout money.

More importantly, it works in a manner that we all understand. The only certainy about the proposed stimulus programs is their uncertainty and the queasy feelings we all will have as we watch the rules of unintended consequences create headlines on a weekly basis.

My Thoughts

I think anything that changes the public’s perception of a ’savings account’ would be a good thing. And if folks shifting their money into a savings account at their local banking institution helps the economy, that’s even more of an added incentive that the average joe would get behind. What do you think about Mark’s suggestion?

At our most recent Entrepreneurs Forum of Hampton Roads meeting earlier this week, we were honored to have Dr. James Koch speak to us on his economic study of entrepreneurial traits. The topic of his presentation was follow-named with his newest book, Born, Not Made.

For those that do not know, Dr. Koch (pronounced like cook) is a world-renowned economist with at least 9 books and over 100 hundred journal artcles published. He is also President Emeritus and the Board of Visitors Professor of Economics at Old Dominion University. You may read more information on Dr. Koch at his website here.

All in all, the presentation was very interesting and intriguing. Personally, I received validations on several fronts that my personality does fit the entrepreneurial model Dr. Koch expresses.

Here are a few scratch notes I took during the meeting -

• Entrepreneurial traits in an individual stem from 60% heredity, 40% environment.
• Heredity: risk taking, behavioral genetics research, uncertainty.
• Environment: education, wealth, training from parents, parental influence is much smaller relative to pier influence.
• Entrepreneurs think more outside the box than managers.
• Entrepreneurs have more innovative ideas than managers.
• Entrepreneurs stir things up more than managers.
• Entrepreneurs encourage less creative thinking and ideas than managers.
• Entrepreneurs do not agree with organizational charts whereas managers do.
• Entrepreneurs violate the chain of command more than managers.
• Entrepreneurs make good employees only if you expect them to do entrepreneurial things.
• Higher wealth does not equate to a greater risk taker.

I’d like to thank Joel Nied for organizing & moderating and Williams Mullen for their sponsorship and hosting the event. Hopefully the next event in March I’ll be able to live blog or live microblog the event.

Amazon.com describes Born, Not Made this way -

Books, magazine articles, and educational programs on entrepreneurship are all based on the idea that anyone can be an entrepreneur–that entrepreneurs are made, not born. Well, maybe not.

In a study of 234 CEOs funded by the Kauffman Foundation, James L. Fisher and James V. Koch came up with a surprising conclusion: Some individuals are simply more naturally fitted to become entrepreneurs than others. They are pre-wired. Because of heredity, some people are much more likely to become successful entrepreneurs or pursue entrepreneurial strategies within a corporate setting profitably.

By recognizing that, this book will significantly improve corporate selection processes, strengthen entrepreneurship programs, and boost the confidence of aspiring entrepreneurs through invaluable insights. Among other things, Fisher and Koch show that true entrepreneurs not only see the world differently–they act differently. Compared with corporate managers, for example, they are more confident, more decisive, more likely to upset the apple cart, and more energetic. They love to compete but are notable for the partnerships they are able to fashion with friend and foe alike. Such conclusions are remarkable. Why? Because they are based on the only empirical comparison study yet conducted on entrepreneurship.

The insights are not based on personal opinion or case studies but on valid and reliable personality indicators. Because the book shows that certain kinds of people will find it much easier to found successful companies than others, it has many practical applications. It will help organizations fit the right people into jobs requiring an entrepreneurial bent. It will challenge corporations to hire entrepreneurial CEOs who will transform businesses rather than maintain the status quo. And it will speak directly to entrepreneurs and those contemplating starting a business, who will learn if they have the right stuff to start and sustain a business. In short, this book provides insights into the entrepreneurial soul that can change the fortunes of individuals and companies for the better.

I know most of you may have off a few days next week for the Christmas holiday and tomorrow may be your last day at work. So I wanted to send you a sincere, joyful holiday wish before you skate out to be with your family.

During today’s trying economic times it is often tough to be the rock for your family and children and to hold your faith in God unwavering. But he will guide us through these tough days. I pray for all of us to be successful and have the opportunities to achieve our goals in 2009.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family from the Parnells.